PAUL DICKOV COLUMN: I don’t like rollicking the players but I’ve no regrets about what was said on Good Friday

Paul Dickov

I said to the players after the game on Tuesday night at Bramall Lane ‘you drive me crackers’.

It shouldn’t take me having a right go at them, which I did on Friday night, to get a performance out of them.

It’s probably the worst rollicking they’ve had from me, after the Bradford game.

I don’t like doing it to them because I see them every day, they work hard and they’re an honest bunch.

But it shouldn’t take me going off my head for a few days, which I did, to get that sort of performance out of them. To be fair to the lads they know that as well.

I’ve not forgotten about Friday night though, despite the performance against Sheffield United.

Usually straight after a game, in the heat of the moment, I might says things in the changing room I think about over the weekend and regret. I’m not going to go into detail but I don’t regret anything I said on Friday night at all.

Of course, I’ve got be careful I’m not too rash.

There are decisions to be made on players’ futures but I have to put an even keel on it over the course of the season, rather than just base any decisions on one performance.

The performance against Bradford up until their first goal was okay. We weren’t at our fluent best but we were probably the better team.

It was the way we seemed to crumble after their first goal that I couldn’t accept. I’ll take players having poor performances, that’s always going to happen.

But what I couldn’t stomach was the way they caved in after that.

Every time you go out there and pull on a Doncaster Rovers shirt you have to give your all, and I didn’t quite feel that I got that.

I asked them on Tuesday - and I shouldn’t have to - to show a bit of pride.

More often than not when you do that, you’ll get a performance and a result.

We’ve got six games left now and people might think there isn’t a lot to play for, but I believe there are a lot of twists and turns still to come.

We’ve made it really difficult for ourselves but we need to finish the season strongly.

It’s important for the players as well. A lot of them are playing for contracts, whether it be here or somewhere else, so we’ve got to make sure we go right to the very end.